Closing Time
by McCord
Summary: *Song-Fic* Post-HW Harry sees Ginny in a bar and thinks about what was... and maybe what could be.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, which is owned by JK Rowling. I also don't own I   
Hope I Don't Fall in Love With You, which is owned by Tom Waits. This is for personal   
entertainment, and hopefully, the entertainment of others. No money is being made or   
attempted to be made from this.  
  
Closing Time  
By: McCord mccord357@yahoo.com  
  
*****************  
  
As he picked up the beer, Harry Potter ignored the jingling at the door of the Three   
Broomsticks that signifies someone had just entered. The people in question pass by his line of   
vision, and he frowns a little at the sight of Colin Creevy and Ginny Weasley making their   
way to a corner booth.  
  
_Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you  
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,_  
  
Harry tore his eyes away from the sight and gazed absently at his glass. The amber liquid before   
him sat there, its color eerily close to the color of her eyes, as if mocking him. He had passed on his   
chance with her, in the guise of 'protecting' her. Now…  
  
He wonders if it wasn't really just cowardice, not nobility as he had tried to convince himself.  
  
_Well the music plays and you display your heart for me to see,  
I had a beer and now I hear you calling out for me_  
  
Her laughter rang out through the pub. Emerald eyes returned to the corner booth, and Harry absently noted  
the laughter didn't quite reach her eyes. Having her in the same room after so long was intoxicating; a much  
more powerful drug that the beer in front of him could ever hope to be.  
  
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.  
  
'Get a hold of yourself Potter.' Harry scowled at himself in recrimination and took another slow hit of his drink.  
He noted that other seventh-year students started to cram into the booth, and joyful chatter echoed from the students.  
She seems a little squished and uncomfortable, and Harry recalls she didn't like to be around crowds or pressed into  
small areas.  
  
_Well the room is crowded, people everywhere  
And I wonder, should I offer you a chair?_  
  
He knew she'd accept if he invited her for a drink and chat 'with an old friend,' but he didn't want to abuse her trust  
just to appease the breaking of his heart.  
  
_Well if you sit down with this old clown, take that frown and break it,  
Before the evening's gone away, I think that we could make it,_  
  
He knew she'd change everything if he gave her the chance. He could be happy, have that family he always wanted;  
but he would have to risk his heart to achieve it. And his heart was one thing the Boy-Who-Lived could not make  
vulnerable.  
  
_And I hope that I don't fall in love with you._  
  
Harry knew that coming here tonight was a bad idea. He had been grasping for a reminder of happier times, when it  
was just him, Ron, and Hermione sharing a butterbeer and friendship.  
  
_Well the night does funny things inside a man  
These old tom-cat feelings you don't understand,_  
  
Instead, here he sat, staring morosely at the back corner mooning over the one girl he ever truly wanted, but felt he couldn't,  
or shouldn't, have.  
  
_Well I turn around to look at you, you light a cigarette,  
I wish I had the guts to bum one, but we've never met,_  
  
She didn't truly know him. If anyone ever did, he knew they'd leave. He was too scarred, too broken. She, and any other girl,  
deserved so much more than he could offer to a relationship.  
  
_And I hope that I don't fall in love with you._  
  
But he knew if he allowed himself to love, that'd be it. He couldn't go back; he had been so starved for love his whole child-hood  
that the first inclination of caring would cause him to stumble headlong into something he wasn't willing to be a part of.  
  
_I can see that you are lonesome just like me, and it being late,  
You'd like some some company,_  
  
She sits there, a part of the group, but at the same time not. The look in her eyes, it was familiar…  
  
He realized it was the same look he had every time he looked in the mirror.  
  
_Well I turn around to look at you, and you look back at me,  
The guy you're with has up and split, the chair next to you's free,_  
  
Eyes lock, emerald with amber. A thousand words and thoughts are exchanged, but nothing is truly exchanged at the same time.  
And a random thought crossed his mind.  
  
_And I hope that you don't fall in love with me._  
  
Could she be just as afraid as he is?  
  
_Now it's closing time, the music's fading out  
Last call for drinks, I'll have another stout._  
  
Students filter out, making their way back up the hill to the castle. Emerald and amber lock again, briefly, before she continues on her  
way with her friends.  
  
_Well I turn around to look at you; you're nowhere to be found,  
I search the place for your lost face; guess I'll have another round_  
  
His gaze lingers at the spot where she had sat, absently running his finger around the rim of his glass. After it was over, after _he_  
was gone…  
  
Maybe he'd let himself be vulnerable then.  
  
_And I think that I just fell in love with you._  
  
  



End file.
